Prospects for coming of self driving cars in 10-15 years is bleak: Hyundai

"My personal belief is that autonomous driving might come, but by far not as quick as everyone says in 10 or 15 years," Thomas Schmid said in an interview on the sidelines of the IAA motor show.AFP | Updated: September 17, 2015, 08:34 IST

FRANKFURT: The self-driving car is coming, but not as rapidly as people think, the head of the European operations of South Korean carmaker Hyundai, Thomas Schmid, told AFP on Wednesday.

"My personal belief is that autonomous driving might come, but by far not as quick as everyone says in 10 or 15 years," Schmid said in an interview on the sidelines of the IAA motor show.

Alongside the connected car, autonomous driving is one of the new buzzwords in the automobile sector.

And futuristic vehicles that soon may be able to drive themselves are among the technological highlights of the 66th edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show, which opened its doors to the world press on Tuesday and will then open to the general public from Saturday.

Already, many of the latest models on the road are equipped with assistance systems to help drivers accelerate or brake in traffic.

"I'm 100-percent certain that this (technology) will be part of future products," Schmid said.

Electronic car parts suppliers, such as the German group Bosch, expect "highway pilots" - which can essentially take over all driving tasks with only occasional need for human intervention - to be ready for the market by 2020. And full auto pilot systems without any human involvement could be ready by 2025.

But such technology would also bring with it "huge, huge challenges for our legal systems," Schmid cautioned.

"Who is responsible for what? I'm not convinced until now that is a process which can be done in the next 10-15 years."

Prices of most SUVs were cut between Rs 1.1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh following the implementation of GST, which subsumed over a dozen central and state levies like excise duty, service tax, and VAT from July 1.